Sunday, March 20, 2016

Synopsis: This is an idol drama extracted from a popular novel - Moon River. It is a story about a university student name Ming Xiao Xi who comes from a poor village and attend a school build for wealthy heirs. She is a kind-hearted and righteous girl who has a martial art background. In the prestigious school, there is a famous elite club lead by chairman Mu Liu Bing and his childhood friends Feng Jian Che and Dong Hao Nan.

Mu Liu Bing has a sad childhood and is angry with his father. He is a capable and handsome university student. He has a independent and cold personality toward other people, except for close friends. On the other hand, Ming Xiao Xi stick like a sore thumb among her wealthy friends. Due to a misunderstanding, Xiao Xi had a fight in school and got into trouble. On top of that, he was accused of cheating during exam. Mu Liu Bing found out that Xiao Xi is innocent and decided to help her discreetly. Soon, Mu Liu Bing moved into Xiao Xi rented house after he had conflict with his cowardly father. Due to a promise with Mu Liu Bing, Xiao Xi have to honor her promise to fulfill one of his wish, which is to share her room and bed with Mu Liu Bing.

In a series of events, Ming Xiao Xi begin to fall in love with the icy cold Mu Liu Bing. However, his heiress childhood friend Tie Sha Xin is in love with Mu Liu Bing. His buddy Dong Hao Nan has a crush on Tie Sha Xin. Feng Jian Che like Ming Xiao Xi too. What will happen to this complicated love connection?

Moon River OST Subtle love by SpeXial

Season of rain sang by Pets Tseng

Drama Queen's comments

This is the first idol drama that I have watched after so many years. I am glad to find a drama which I have interest and decided to marathon the drama to the end. We were introduced to a Taiwan idol group SpeXial. The handsome and charming rapper Sam is the lead actor in this drama. First of all, he does have the look and charisma to be Mu Liu Bing. However, Sam expression can be a little stiff at times. Most of the time, his acting is generally convincing as the icy cool Mu Liu Bing who has a sad childhood. His interaction and chemistry with Pets Tseng is excellent. In my opinion, Sam Lin does have the potential to be a good actor, he just need more experience in acting in order to be more consistent in his acting skill. I definitely hope to see more of him in the future.

It had been years since I last seen Pets on television and i only remember her as a singer not an actress. She surprised me with her role as Ming Xiao Xi in this drama. However, I don't like Pets Tseng in this hairstyle. Although we know that is a wig on her head, she look terrible with that appearance. However, that is image that our village girl have in this series and i agree that she has to act in this way. Unfortunately, I still cannot get used to her village style even after watching her for some time. Despite that, Pets Tseng acting skill is considered more consistent among her co stars. She has good chemistry with Sam acting as a couple that bicker constantly but in their heart cares so much for each other.

Evan is the typical second lead in this drama that is destined for a sad ending. Feng Jian Che has a gentle and warm personality that draws people to him. Unfortunately, he is destined to be hurt from the beginning since Xiao Xi obviously love Mu Liu Bing only. Evan acting is raw but this role suited him very well. I like the way he cares for our Ming Xiao Xi and be her guardian angel to her. Many fans say that he is a better choice than Mu Liu Bing.

Chinese actor Xu Kai Pin is good as the devoted heartbroken man Dong Hao Nan. This drama is obviously promoting the Spexial but he is able to shine on his own despite being cast aside most of the time.

Wu Xiong act as Dong Hao Xue, the younger sister of Dong Hao Nan. She has a secret crush on Feng Jian Che. Her performance is basically the same throughout the show. Nothing bad but is not outstandingly either.

Chao Yi Yue act as the arrogant and stubborn Tie Sha Xin. She is always picking on Xiao Xi and is jealous whenever Mu Liu Bing shows interest in Xiao Xi. She acted well in this drama but she need to improve on her speech and expressions in acting.

A special mention to Quinlivan Hannah who acted as a bimbo Lucy in this drama. She does a good job and excel in this role which grab my attention in this drama.

It is obvious that this drama is promoting Taiwan idol group SpeXial through this idol drama. I like the storu in the beginning because of the wacky scenes and funny plots. This story line resembles Meteor garden but in different setting and characters. In fact, the two story is somewhat familiar for idol drama fans. It is the typical spiky poor girl falling in love with a icy cool handsome man who love to "play pranks" with the female protagonist, showing his playful side to the girl.

Unfortunately, the drama became dramatic and somewhat ridiculous towards the end. It is a shame as this drama does have a promising start and it gradually lost its magic and direction in the middle and the ending is mediocre. Moon River is a predictable story but I would expect more sweetness in this drama. I am always happy to see this couple two bickers and play with each other, but after they became a couple the story line became boring and lost its humor.

It is really Pets Tseng and Sam Lin who carries the whole drama on their shoulders and I would say that they did their job pretty well. However, the script is a letdown when they turn the whole thing into a drama spurred by revenge and bitterness. It is not only the inconsistency in story line that upsets me, our heroine Ming Xiao Xi character is inconsistent too. She is portrayed as a righteous marital arts expert. However, she immediately give up when she was accused of cheating in an exam? She will be accused to be a thief and she just accept it? Yes, it may be urged that she is supposed to be silly and native. However, through this minor incident, we can see that Ming Xiao Xi do not act base on her own belief and morale value, which is totally out of character.

I like the beginning when Mu Liu Bing and Ming Xiao Xi bicker around and acted childishly. Xiao Xi calling his boyfriend Lao Mu Liu Bing sound sweet and cute too. Although Pets Tseng is older than Sam, she tried her best to fit into this role with that mushroom haircut. In my opinion, the editing and pace of the drama is weird. Towards the end, the drama became heavy and depressed. In the end, I insisted on watching this drama because of the main characters. In conclusion, this drama succeed in promoting the main characters and SpeXial but the script writing is inconsistent and the character growth cannot be seen throughout the drama except for Mu Liu Bing. I would recommend this drama if you like to watch eye candies. In addition, the original soundtracks were good too.